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100 unsexiest men 2009

Nacho Libre

Doesn't work as offbeat sports movie or geek chic
By CHRIS WANGLER  |  June 21, 2006
2.0 2.0 Stars
060623_inside_Nacho.jpg
NACHO LIBRE: Jared Hess falls victim to sophomore slump.
Sophomore slump 1, Napoleon Dynamite director 0. Nacho (Jack Black) is a lowly Mexican monastery cook who feeds the orphans gray goop because the monks won’t splurge for the good shit. With the help of Esqueleto (Héctor Jiménez), a bum who looks like a grown-up version of Truffaut’s wild child, he becomes a famous luchador (freestyle wrestler) and woos a reluctant nun. From the outset, Jared Hess reaches for laughs with potty humor and shameless slapstick. Black’s boffo physicality picks up some of the slack, especially in one pre-match song reminiscent of Tenacious D, but he lacks the leading-man cachet to outwrestle a formulaic script that’s too respectful of the Church, the Holy Virgin and the locals. Result: a safe, value-neutral distraction that works neither as an offbeat sports movie nor as the latest fad in the flagging geek-chic category.
Related: Apocalypse now and then, Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny, Crossword: 'It's So Easy', More more >
  Topics: Reviews , Jack Black, Jared Hess, Napoleon Dynamite,  More more >
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